Dana Gould on ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES

Don Taylor directed this third film in the original Apes series and screenwriter Paul Dehn concocted the imaginative storyline. Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter return as simian sweethearts Cornelius and Zira who survive the earth’s destruction but are thrown back in time to 1973—all the better to score satirical points about the Me Decade and celebrity culture. The humans are well-represented by Bradford Dillman and Ricardo Montalbán and the supporting cast is peppered with familiar genre actors including Harry Lauter and Jason Evers from The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.

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[queenglamazona]

The Ending of this Movie made me Cry. 😞😢😭

[Retrorevelations]

I originally saw this, as I did all of the Apes films, when they played in a marathon on TNT or whatever, when I was a kid. It's a well enough made film, that has its moments, but the "oh this other Ape scientist you've never heard of before now, managed to figure out how to fix the human spaceship they somehow recovered from the bottom of a lake, even though the technology is far beyond anything the Apes had, and he and Cornelius and Zera magically managed to figure out how to pilot it and escape their world's doom BUT DON'T WORRY ABOUT ALL THAT IT'S FINE!" bit, was so brushed over lol.

Also, the movie becomes SUPER dark and depressing (as did, to be fair, Beneath and Conquest). The ending traumatized me a bit as a kid.

[maxthepupp]

Cried.
Cried at the end of this movie back when it came out.
Very 1970's TV MOW but tied for 2cd in the series!
And the TV show was not far after!

[bartman]

The end traumatized me....
I was too young for that ending.

[spaakfan]

One of my earliest movie memories is seeing Conquest of the Planet of the Apes at a drive-in. And it terrified me!

[Dunkage]

Based on the year of release and the the racing theme my guess is that the movie you had most likely have seen this on a drive-in double feature was the Steve McQueen vehicle "Le Mans" (no pun intended.) Also, while "Escape" may have felt like a novel approach to the series, as it turns out it is actually closer to the plot Pierre Boulle's original book that the 1968 movie that took its name. It just reversed the lens (so to speak.)

[RWSCOTT]

Good one! Late in the 70s it seemed like WOR-TV in NY would do Ape Week on the 4:30 movie every 6 months or so. Good times. Except for Battle For The Planet Of The Apes.. the TV movie. Even us kids knew that one was a stinker.

[DoctorZisIN]

They shoud do a reboot of this movie with Doctor Z in it.

[SuperCaleb]

"This is like watching Planet of the Apes at Charlton Heston's house" -Gex

[tectorgorch]

It is great to hear the writer getting so much credit. I would argue however that Dehn's masterpiece is Orders To Kill.

[Google-Volunteer-Lobbyist]

The information of the film has a concern for the audience as the knowledge framed within the context. The narrative explanation gives a different perspective on the genre and theme for the dramatic elements and how the audience understands the information. The sequel and copyright that underwrites the information originality is important with the industrial standards and relations with the advancement of cinema within the era: 1970's cinema. Great job! Sincerely, Andrew Stephen Drazdik Jr 2nd June 2024

[squinkque]

I think you must be misremembering the double bill, Bobby Deerfield didn't come out until 1977. I love all the Planet of the Apes flicks but this one does have a bummer of an ending. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes would become my favorite movie until Star Wars came out. I moved to the U.S. in '73 and didn't see any of the movies in the theater but watched the hell out of the them when they came on t.v. One paid very close attention to every second back then because once they ran on the Movie of the Week there was no telling when you'd be able to watch again, .

[wingitprod]

"Euphoric" Conquest of TPOTA??? Can't wait for that one.

[KamillGran-chsb]

Good lord, Bobby Deerfield and the Apes movie? I can’t imagine the two being together 😂

[BobBenson-qzlp]

Totally nonsensical to pull out Taylors INOPERABLE broken ship out of the lake, but where was the closest parts store to fix the ship up to get it in orbit so it can travel thru a time warp backwards wormhole???
The apes only had gunpowder for technology when heston pushed the button.
The most nonsensical part of all 5 movies was the rationale of that storyline.